The Conflict Between Great Britain and the North American Colonies

“Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life.” Great Britain and the American colonies had a relationship impacted with many hardships. I believe that there was a political struggle between the two groups, but that Great Britain and the American colonies used economics as a chance to show how much control they had. Multiple Acts written by Parliament, the colonies' Committees of Correspondence and Continental Congress created political friction between Great Britain and the American colonies. One example of the power struggle was the arguments over taxes. The Sugar Act of 1764, Quartering Act of 1765, the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 are examples of how the British tried to maintain a sense of control over the colonies. The colonists reacted very strongly against having to follow these Acts and pay fines for virtually everything. Sugar, tea, stamps, glass, paper, along with other items seemed outrageous to the American people, and it led to the argument over virtual representation. The colonists argued that while Parliament had control over the empire, making decisions that affected the colonies alone was unjust. There weren't any American representatives in Parliament, therefore putting something onto the colonies (like the Acts) was unacceptable to the Americans. “Taxation without Representation” became the motto among colonists. Even if there had been American members of Parliament though they wouldn't have had any effect in the long run. England was of the mindset that you couldn't separate taxation and legislation. The usage of the taxes was an attempt for both sides at gaining power. Britain tried to use it as a controlling mechanism, and the colonies tried to use it for more freedom and to show that the powerful England could in turn be controlled. As...

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...War took place. This war altered the political, economic, and ideological relations betweenBritain and its Americancolonies. It was the last of four NorthAmerican wars waged from 1689 to 1763 between the British and the French. In these struggles, each country fought for control of the continent with the assistance of Native American and colonial allies. The French and Indian War occurred to end the land dispute between the British and French. Whoever won, in reality, gained an empire. It was a determined and eventually successful attempt by the British to get a dominant position in North America, the West Indies, and the subcontinent of India. Although Britain had won all this land, political, economic, and ideological relations betweenBritain and its Americancolonies were totally annihilated.
Politically, the French and Indian War torn apart Britain and its Americancolonies. In Document C, George Washington is asking Robert Orme to let him become a higher rank in the military. He wanted more power. Washington wishes to serve under, "a Gentleman of General Braddock's abilities and experience." Although he was very sincere when he wrote this, Britain was not giving what he truly wanted. Upon...

...At the end of the French and Indian War, the hostilities betweenGreatBritain and the colonies progressed intensely. Britain started taxing the colonies while restricting their economy. Many violent arguments between the colonists and Britain also broke out, and fierce battles were fought due to the disagreements.
Since Britain was in debt after the French and Indian War, they needed money, and an easy way to get the money was by taxing the colonists. The first tax was the Sugar Act that was passed by Parliament in 1764. This tax ensured that any colonist who bought imported molasses or sugar had to pay a tax. This was the first act that was passed particularly to profit from the colonies instead of their usual attempts to balance the trade of the colonies. The colonists weren’t happy with the tax, so they boycotted all goods that had extra expenses. Britain then decided to issue the Stamp Act of 1765 when they realized that the Sugar Act was not helpful.
The Stamp Act affected most colonists since many of them needed paper goods. The tax demanded the colonists to pay for an official stamp every time they used legal documents, licenses, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards. Once again, the colonists weren’t happy, but this time, they organized groups such as the Sons of Liberty to control the...

...American History 231-01
February 8, 2014
Different Types of AmericanColonies
There are different types of English colonies, including Royal, proprietary, and private as the most common types. These are three very different types of colonies and had different rules associated with them. Each colony was a part of one of these types, but some even switched between the three types of colonies. These switches came from changes in power and needing different types of government to make this happen.
Royal colonies were the most common form of government in the colonies at the time of colonial America. Almost every single colony was a royal colony at one time or another, although many switched from proprietary or private before becoming a royal government. A Royal colony was administered by a royal governor and council that was appointed by the British crown. This means that this type of government had a chief executive officer which, in most cases was called a governor. The Governor was appointed by the Crown that was the head of that colony, and the Governor position was very replaceable and needed no reason to ever be replaced. However, to make the colonies feel as though they have a say the British rulers let the colonies have an assembly. The...

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British Imperial Policy of the 13 NorthAmericanColonies in the 17th and
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John Liu
Between the years of 1607 and 1763, GreatBritain sent over many of its people to the new world, establishing the thirteen colonies. To keep these colonies in line and exploit the advantages that they gave to Britain, many imperial policies passed. Several aspects from the policies stand out as particularly important, such as the hierarchical order, virtual representation, and sudden changes in salutary neglect, ended up being precursors to the American Revolution.
A major component of British thought during this period in time which would have led to the creation of such policies that were condescending towards the colonists was the belief that, in a hierarchical ladder, GreatBritain stood as a father-figure and parent to the colonies. This is especially evident after the 7 Years War against the French, which took place in both England and the colonies. After the English won the war, there were some differing opinions on where the colonies stood with GreatBritain across the Atlantic. For example, while the colonists expected more equal footing with the British, especially in Parliament, most of the British themselves still stood by...

...Mercantilist Relationship between the AmericanColonies and the British Government
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Prior to 1763 the colonists had no choice but to go along with Parliament's right to take actions on their behalf and the predominance of Britain's economic benefits over their personal ones. Seven Years' War was the war that altered the parliaments actions, had been intended to regulate trade and nothing else, Parliament's arrangements began to...

...its trade. Britain formed the Americancolonies so that they could increase their gold stores. They wanted raw supplies to make into products to sell and make money. They wanted America to pay taxes so that Britain could make money. America used the theory in that they thought they ought to, in order to be strong expand their trade beyond Britain. Countries like Belgium, and France wanted to also increase their trade, and expand it to trading with America. They also wanted to increase their gold stores by trading with America. Britain however did not want America to trade with France and Belgium and the Netherlands because they wanted to increase their gold stores, so they needed a monopoly over American trade. So there was tension betweenBritain and its Americancolonies. One of the first efforts made by Britain to control the Americancolonies was the Acts of Trade and Navigation. What these acts did was limited American trade to basically just Britain. These Acts were in place between 1650-1660 and they were there to ensure that the mercantile system that existed stayed. It was mainly to prevent the Frenchmen and Dutch from receiving American goods. The acts limited American shipping to be via...

...﻿ DBQ
The ConflictbetweenGreatBritain and the NorthAmericancolonies were more economic based rather than political and social. With the examples including the stamp act, it clearly shows it was ran by the economical differences due to the fact that the stamp act imbalances drove the colonies to protest and even start boycotting the British goods.
With the quartering acts, politically, it aroused the colonists because it was so unfair. What it did was that, parliament enacted them to order local governments of the Americancolonies to provide the British soldiers with any needed accommodations. It also required citizens to provide food for any British soldiers in the area. In addition to the quartering acts, the Declaration of Colonial Rights and Grievances, a document written by the Stamp Act Congress, declared that taxes imposed on British colonists without their formal consent were unconstitutional (Doc G), none of this would of came into play without the Stamp act, which they did eventually come into resolution (Doc B). These Acts, if you traced them back to the origin, was tied with the Colonial’s and Britain’s economy. The stamp act was put into play because of Britain’s debt and after that, the Declaration of Colonial Rights and Grievances were made from the Stamp Act congress. The British needed...

...The thirteen colonies that became the USA were originally colonies of GreatBritain. By the time the American Revolution took place, the citizens of these colonies were beginning to get tired of the British rule. Rebellion and discontent were rampant. For those people who see the change in the American government and society a real Revolution, the Revolution is essentially an economic one. The main reason the colonies started rebelling against 'mother England' was the taxation issue. The colonies debated England's legal power to tax them and, furthermore, did not wish to be taxed without representation. This was one of the main causes of the Revolutionary War. The Revenue Act of 1764 made the constitutional issue of whether or not the King had the right to tax the thirteen colonies an issue, and this eventually "became an entering wedge in the great dispute that was finally to wrest the Americancolonies from England" (Olsen, 6). It was the phrase 'taxation without representation' "that was to draw many to the cause of the American patriots against the mother country" (6).
The reaction against taxation was often violent and the most powerful and articulate groups in the population rose against the taxation (6). "Resolutions denouncing taxation without representation as a threat...